BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

Belarus Observers Arrested

MINSK -- Police broke up a meeting of an election monitoring group and arrested dozens of members in what the organization's leader said was an effort to prevent independent observation of next year's crucial presidential vote in Belarus. Police entered the movie theater where the organization, Partnership, was meeting Saturday and arrested some 70 participants on charges of holding a gathering without approval from authorities, said its leader, Nikolai Astreiko. "The authorities are trying to punish independent observers ahead of the 2006 presidential election," Astreiko said of the arrests.